Chiesa di Sant’Efisio Martire di Nora
Chiesa di Sant’Efisio Martire di Nora
Located near the sea, the church of Sant'Efisio Martire di Nora represents a focal point in Sardinian devotion and tradition. Its importance is underlined by the annual procession that, starting from Cagliari on 1 May, takes the statue of the saint to Nora, where it remains until 4 May before returning to the church in Cagliari. The present building, erected in the early Middle Ages, stands on the site traditionally associated with the martyrdom of Saint Ephisius. An important moment in the church's history occurred in 1089, when the Cagliaritan judge Constantine Salùsio II de Lacon Gunàle donated it to the Benedictine monks, who rebuilt it in Protoromanesque style. Today's structure has a three-nave floor plan with barrel vaults and an apse with no openings. The façade, originally in Romanesque style, underwent significant changes between the 17th and 18th centuries, thus bearing witness to the different historical phases the building went through.